Japan's Kojima sounds Marchand warning with Asian Games gold / Photo: Yuichi YAMAZAKI - AFP
Japan's Kojima sounds Marchand warning with Asian Games gold
Japan's 17-year-old Yumeki Kojima said he was determined to cut the gap on French superstar Leon Marchand before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after winning Asian Games gold on Tuesday.
Marchand said earlier in Tokyo that Japanese swimmers were his biggest rivals for gold in LA, admitting that he was "scared" and "stressed" about racing them.
Watched by the Frenchman, Kojima won the 400m individual medley in an Asian Games record time of 4min 07.02sec, coming from behind to finish 2.62sec ahead of countryman Tomoyuki Matsushita.
Kojima's time was far short of Marchand's world record of 4:02.50 but the Japanese swimmer believes he is on track to challenge the Frenchman.
"Right now, Marchand is the highest target that I'm aiming for," said Kojima.
"I want to keep getting closer to him, even if it's little by little, and eventually surpass him."
Matsushita won the 200m IM on the opening day in the pool and he led the way heading into the breaststroke section of the 400m IM.
Kojima began to reel him in and they were neck and neck going into the final freestyle section.
Kojima surged clear to claim gold and said he was happy to get "revenge" on Matsushita after losing to him by 0.06sec in the 200m IM.
"I knew it would be no good if I panicked," said Kojima.
"I focused on not rushing and swimming my own race, and I think that's one of the reasons why I won."
Marchand named Matsushita as one of his main rivals for gold at the LA Olympics.
- 'Cut me down to size' -
Matsushita said he would learn from losing to Kojima and use it to his advantage.
"If everything went perfectly, it wouldn't be interesting," said the 21-year-old.
"Experiences like this cut me down to size and let me get back to steady, grounded training."
Marchand also identified Japanese breaststroke swimmer Shin Ohashi as a likely Olympic rival.
Ohashi won 100m breaststroke gold this week in Tokyo and he was in action again as part of Japan's 4x100m medley relay team.
Japan finished second to China and Ohashi said Marchand's praise would spur to him work even harder.
"I respect Leon Marchand, we are totally different types and he is an amazing athlete," he said.
"I want to keep improving my times so that I won't lose to him at the Olympics."
Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey won the women's 100m freestyle, a day after taking gold in the 200m freestyle.
She also won the 100m-200m Asian Games double in Hangzhou in 2023.
"Before the races, I never really think too much about trying to defend my title or about the external pressure," said Haughey, who finished in a time of 52.45sec.
"I just really focus on how I want to execute the race and my race strategy.
"I think I'd still be happy even if I didn't win but I executed my race plan the way I wanted to."
China's Peng Xuwei won the women's 200m backstroke in an Asian record 2min 05.77sec.
China also won gold in the men's 1,500m freestyle through Zhang Zhanshuo, and in the women's 400m freestyle thanks to Li Bingjie.
U.Kawena--HStB
